Joe Kent, Trump’s Counterterrorism chief resigns citing Israeli lobby

Joe Kent, Director of the National Counterterrorism Center, resigned on Tuesday, saying that the war on Iran was started due to ‘pressure from Israel and its powerful American lobby‘ and he could not support it in “good conscience.”

Kent wrote to Trump:

This echo chamber was used to deceive you into believing that Iran posed an imminent threat to the United States,” . “This was a lie and is the same tactic the Israelis used to draw us into the disastrous Iraq war that cost our nation the lives of thousands of our best men and women.

Joe Kent is a Gold Star husband; his wife Shannon was killed in 2019 while serving as a CIA officer in Syria — another illegal war by the USA. Kent said the war was also “manufactured by Israel.”

Kent said high-ranking Israeli officials and influential members of the American media mounted a “misinformation campaign” that undermined Trump’s America First platform and “sowed pro-war sentiments to encourage a war with Iran.”

Iranian American Trita Parsi of the Quincy Institute retweeted Kent’s resignation, saying, “This is big”.

Republicans who have been critical of Trump’s illegal war celebrated the move by Kent.

MAGA podcaster Auron MacIntyre said Kent had paid a dear price for his service.

Another MAGA podcaster David J. Reilly, said: “God Bless you, man.”

There was some criticism of Kent for his complicity in imperialism, too.